Rehmann elected sheriff

By Lynda Jensen
Editor

By a margin of 700 votes, or about 5 percent of ballots cast, Scott Rehmann of Winsted was elected as McLeod County sheriff Tuesday.

“Wow, it’s been exciting,” Rehmann commented Thursday, after a whirlwind week and long election night Tuesday.

Rehmann claimed victory over Mark Taylor of Hutchinson, who is also the chief deputy for outgoing Sheriff Wayne Vinkemeier.

Rehmann carried half of the 14 townships in the county, plus the cities of Glencoe, Winsted, Lester Prairie, Silver Lake and Brownton.

Taylor carried the remaining townships, plus the cities of Biscay, Plato, Stewart, and all three precincts in Hutchinson.

The race featured tight ballot counts in nearly every city and township – such as a one vote difference in Biscay – to a several hundred vote difference in Glencoe.

Predictably, strong support for Rehmann swelled in the eastern half of the county, with good voter turnouts and helpful ballot counts in Winsted, Lester Prairie, and the townships of Bergen and Winsted.

However, Rehmann garnered support from the entire county in the sense that voters in nearly every precinct except Hutchinson cast ballots in his favor by about 45 to 50 percent, except for Hutchinson.

Hutchinson, a key city for any county race, cast 4,880 ballots for Rehmann, or 42 percent of the votes there.

Interestingly, Hutchinson did not feature many hot local races for Hutchinson voters, which resulted in 2,057 ballots toward Rehmann’s accumulation, or more than a quarter of his total votes.

This was enough momentum to win the day, as vote totals were tallied overall.

A long election night

Nerves were in plentiful supply as the Rehmann family watched precinct totals trickle in, with friends at their side, as election night progressed in Winsted.

Shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., results started to be posted on the McLeod County web site, with new precincts added every so many minutes.

Rehmann kept a lead of anywhere from 5 percent to 20 percent, and remained ahead the entire evening, with smaller precincts reporting in as well as favorable Glencoe results.

However, Hutchinson was yet to be posted, with three precincts yet to kick in.

Just before midnight, the three Hutchinson precincts were posted, equalling more than one-third of total votes cast for sheriff that day.

“It’s a huge blessing,” commented Scott’s wife, Katie. “God has a purpose for him.”

Precinct breakdown of McLeod Co. sheriff race

Precinct Rehmann votes Taylor votes

Acoma Township 215 309

Bergen Township 281 103

City of Biscay 29 30

City of Brownton 142 139

Collins Township 104 125

City of Glencoe, first precinct 258 239

City of Glencoe, second precinct 328 243

City of Glencoe, third precinct 358 255

City of Glencoe, fourth precinct 220 159

Glencoe Township 148 130

Hale Township 291 119

Hassan Valley Township 145 166

Helen Township 237 183

Hutchinson, first precinct 579 733

Hutchinson, second precinct 651 845

Hutchinson, third precinct 827 1,245

Hutchinson Township 283 262

Lester Prairie 399 214

Lynn Township 112 126

Penn Township 63 60

City of Plato 63 84

Rich Valley Township 193 151

Round Grove Township 51 63

City of Silver Lake 207 95

City of Stewart 112 147

Sumter Township 105 129

City of Winsted 671 234

Winsted Township 324 108

TOTAL 7,396 6,696